This month, you were challenged to learn a new skill - and with that skill, design something that would be a good introduction to the skill for someone else.As a longtime knitter, crocheter, needlework, lace, beading, etc. multi-crafter it was challenging to find a technique that I haven’t tried yet. Especially because I am always curious about new things. Double-knitting ended up being my technique to learn for this challenge.
I’ve learned quite a bit a long the way (different cast ons, bind offs, design considerations for the mirror image, what design features work and work not so well, etc.) and I am sure to use this technique for the upcoming fall/winter season.
After knitting now 4 headbands, I can nearly knit at regular speed of a typical k1,p1 ribbing (you knit the front side stitches and purl the backside stitches which makes for a k1,p1 knitting experience).
The resulting fabric is so nice thick, warm and squishy that you just love touching it. And the reversible nature of the fabric with its cool color play just tops it off! I love it!
Some notes I took along the way:
I was not quite happy with the cast on/cast off edges. It just didn’t look tidy enough for me, a bit too grungy (could be a look in itself).
grungy edge
After a bit of experimenting and googling I settled on a 3-stranded long-tail cast-on. You hold your two colors over the index finger and the front color around your thumb.
The trick is to keep the double strand in the same order: red/white, red/white, etc. which will setup your front (red) and back (white) stitches.
3-stranded long-tail cast-on
cleaned up edge
This was a fun challenge and very educational. How about you take the plunge and try a new technique as well?
